The largest state of the USA-Alaska

Alaska State• A state of the United States in

extreme northwest North America including the Aleutian Islands and Alexander Archipelago.

• It is separated from the other mainland states by British Columbia, Canada.

• Alaska was admitted as the 49th state in 1959 and is the largest state of the Union.

• The territory was purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000 and was known as Seward's Folly (after Secretary of State William H. Seward, who negotiated the purchase) until gold was discovered in the late 1800s. Juneau is the capital and Anchorage the largest city. Population: 683,000.

• The official state flag of Alaska was officially adopted in 1959. The golden stars represent the Big Dipper (an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear) and the North Star, also called Polaris (representing Alaska's northern location). This beautiful flag was chosen from a flag-designing contest. It was designed in 1926 by a 13-year-old Native American boy named Bennie Benson. Bennie was from the village of Chignik; he won a 1,000-dollar scholarship and a watch for winning the contest.

State Flag

Animal Symbols:

State Bird Willow ptarmigan(Lagopus lagopus)

State Land Mammal

                  

Moose(Alces alces)

State Marine Mammal

                                            Bowhead whale

(Balaena mysticetus)

State Fish

                                            

King salmon(Onchorhynchus tshawytscha)

State Insect Four spot skimmer dragonfly

State Fossil

                      

    Woolly Mammoth

(Mammuthus primigenius)

Plant Symbols:State Flower

               Forget-me-not(genus Myosotis)

State Tree Sitka spruce(Picea sitchenensis)

Earth Symbols:State Mineral Gold

State Gem Jade

State Soil Estelle (unofficial)

Miscellaneous Symbol: State Sport Dog mushing

• For most of its history as a U.S. possession, Alaska was known as the "last frontier," the last part of the country where would-be pioneers could go to live out the American dream of freedom and self-sufficiency through hard work and ingenuity. But with the rise of environmental consciousness in the 1960s and 1970s, that notion subsided. Alaska became America's "last wilderness," the last place in America with vast stretches of undeveloped, unpopulated land. In 1980 Congress designated 50 million acres of the state as wilderness, doubling the size of the national wilderness system.

• They were unhampered by the Monroe Doctrine, which warned that the American continent was no territory for future European colonization.

• Tsar Alexander I admired the American republic, and agreed in April 1824 to restrict Russia's claims on the America continent to Alaska.

• American statesmen had attempted several times between 1834 and 1867 to purchase Alaska from Russia.

• Overextended geographically, the Russians were happy at the time to release the burden.

• However, the discovery of gold in 1896 and of the largest oil field in North America (near Prudhoe Bay) in 1968 may have caused second thoughts.

History

The state abounds in natural wonders.

• In the Panhandle, the scenic beauty of the mountains and the rugged fjord-indented coast are augmented by such attractions as the Malaspina glacier and the acres of blue ice in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

• In the Alaska Range of central Alaska stands the highest point in North America, Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Denali National Park and Preserve.

• The Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands have numerous volcanoes; Katmai National Park and Preserve contains the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, scene of a volcanic eruption in 1912.

Economy • Alaska has very little agriculture, ranking

last in the nation in number of farms and value of farm products. The state's best arable land is in its S central region, in the Matanuska Valley N of Anchorage and the Tanana Valley (around Fairbanks). The state's most valuable farm commodities are greenhouse and dairy products and potatoes.

• Alaska leads the nation in the value of its commercial fishing catch-chiefly salmon, crab, shrimp, halibut, herring, and cod.

• Mining, principally of petroleum and natural gas, is the state's most valuable industry. Gold, which led to settlement at the end of the 19th cent., is no longer mined in quantity.

• Fur-trapping, Alaska's oldest industry, endures; pelts are obtained from a great variety of animals.

• The Pribilof Islands are especially noted as a source of sealskins (the seals there are owned by the U.S. government, and their use is carefully regulated).

Government, Politics, and Higher Education

• Alaska operates under a constitution drawn up and ratified in 1956 (effective with statehood).

• Its executive branch is headed by a governor and a secretary of state, both elected (on the same ticket) for four-year terms.

• Alaska's bicameral legislature has a senate with 20 members and a house of representatives with 40 members.

• The state sends two senators and one representative to the U.S. Congress and has three electoral votes.

• Alaska's educational institutions include the Univ. of Alaska, with divisions at Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau; and Alaska Pacific Univ., at Anchorage.

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